College students use dating website to help pay for school tuition

A new website is causing controversy by offering students a chance to meet men and women willing to pay the students’ college tuition, otherwise known as Sugar Daddies or Sugar Mommies.

A number of VSU students are registered on the website to receive financial help from Sugar Daddies or Mommies.

The website, seekingarrangements.com, was founded by dating expert Brandon Wade and became available in year 2006.

The website, featured in the New York Times, ABC news, Dr. Phil and even Playboy, offers what Wade describes as “mutually beneficial relationships.”

According to a story ran in the Huffington Post, “Of the site’s approximately 800,000 members, Wade estimates that 35 percent are students.”

The website lists the top colleges with sugar babies.

University of California ranks in 13th place with 193 sugar babies, Harvard University in 8th place with 231, and New York University is number one with 498.

The website is completely free and does not reveal names. Each member is given a user name instead.

Students must first create a profile, listing their location, age, and any other information about themselves. After the profile is activated, the search for a sugar daddy begins.

Once a student has a sugar daddy, the pair negotiates the amount of money the student will receive.

The article in the Huffington Post included information about a certain sugar baby using the pseudonym Taylor.

According to the article, Taylor’s profile indicates preferences for an “arrangement” in the range of $1,000 to $3,000 a month.

Taylor says she was led to the site after being faced with about $15,000 in unpaid tuition and overdue bills.

The pair must also negotiate the boundaries of their relationship.

Sugar babies can agree to date and even have a physical relationship with their sugar daddies or agree on a platonic relationship.

Traraya Perkins, freshman mass media major believes that since the man is giving the student money, the relationship could never be platonic.

During the date, Taylor rubbed sunscreen on her sugar daddy’s back and braced herself to “endure an afternoon of sex with someone she suspected was actually about 30 years her senior,” according to the Huffington Post.

Angera Bolton, sophomore psychology major, thinks that the situation is immoral and not sending out a good message.

Taylor received $350 for her “date.”

“I just wanted to get out of that situation as safely as possible, pay off my debt, and move on,” Taylor said.